1912 Emerson Model 3
"The Greatest Achievement in Typewriter History," or so they claimed with the launch of the Emerson in 1909. If I think about mechanically superiors machines available at the time, several come to mind. Regardless, this machine did come with the perk of a backspace, something Hammond was selling in a box. At $50, complete with with a shady decimal tab, and dubious amounts of praise, the Emerson threatened to revolutionize front strike typing. However, greed and poor decision making ran the company into the ground before it could even get off it. It was as if the Wright brothers made a tunnel boring machine on accident. All was not lost for the Emerson Company however, as in 1911, the factory and rights were purchased by Sears and Roebuck--not the company, the guys. After many trials and tribulations, including the departure of one of the company's founding partners; Mr. Sears, armed with millions of dollars from selling things through the mail (sound familiar?),